


Truth and Stars

by PrimroseRoyal



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: A Better World (Gravity Falls), Alternate Universe, Journal 3 spoilers, M/M, Parallel Falls, Post Portal Era, Slow Burn (somewhat), fiddauthor - Freeform, institute of oddology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-23 07:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18148886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrimroseRoyal/pseuds/PrimroseRoyal
Summary: Stanford Pines has known Fiddleford McGucket since freshman year of college and they have been inseparable ever since. Through the years, they've experienced love, uncertainty, and occasionally perilous adventure. After spending just over a year with Stanford in the peculiar town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, Fiddleford walked out after discovering the presence of a dangerous demon involved with the construction of their interdimensional portal. What will become of their life in Gravity Falls?





	Truth and Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is Enigmatic Echo. This is my first time writing a fanfiction of any kind, so take it easy on me. I don't currently know how many chapters this will have but I will update somewhat regularly.

Things were not looking good for Stanford Pines in the dark basement of his cabin in the woods. His brother had just fled the scene after nearly throwing him through a portal to a nightmare dimension. He shivered and imagined that he could still hear the faint echoing of shouting. The air felt as if it was weighed down with tension, making everything heavy. For a while he just sat there with a dazed look on his face, unsure of what had just happened or what to do. The portal was finally calming down but still buzzing with a slightly irritating hum.

It seemed as if a million things were running through Ford’s mind. Why did Bill betray him? What was really on the other side of that portal? Is this world in danger?  ~~Where was Stanley?~~ _Wait._ Where was Fiddleford? He hadn’t seen him since he walked out in a moment of fury after glimpsing the horror behind the portal’s crackling blue veil. Ford suddenly found himself experiencing an overwhelming wave of guilt. He remembered how terrified his partner had looked. He remembered that stab of pain he felt as Fiddleford walked away, seemingly forever. Now all he could think about was how worried he was. Sure, he was still somewhat angry at a lot of things but he felt that this was more important than a petty disagreement. After all, he considered himself to be almost completely in the wrong now that he took a few long moments to think about it. Ford stood up, somewhat shakily, and walked over to the elevator as the portal gave a last flashing spark. It was almost as if it was mocking him.

 

A thin, hazy light streamed in through the small window in the kitchen. A light snow was steadily falling outside in puffs of white. Stanford sat at the table, stirring a cold cup of coffee and trying to solve the puzzle that was making a decision. He let out a sigh, “What am I going to do?” he muttered aloud. He tugged at his hair in frustration while staring at the door. 

Less than five days ago, they were in this very room together, happy as can be. Ford remembered sitting next to Fiddleford at the table here, discussing various plans for the testing of that infernal portal. One disaster after another since then had changed both of their rosy pictures of life so horribly quickly. He smiled ever so slightly at the memory of peaceful times. In a moment he decided that there really was only one thing to do. He headed for the door and glanced at a particular lab coat, abandoned there on a coat rack, on his way out.

 

As Ford drove into the usually quiet town of Gravity Falls with the intent of searching for his lost companion, he realized that he didn’t actually have a plan of what he was going to do  ~~ if ~~ when he found Fiddleford. How odd was that? Stanford usually always had some sort of plan of action even if things didn’t often go as they were predicted. In his current predicament, he really didn’t have even the concept of how this could go. As he frequently did in tense times, Ford’s mind wandered to the negative side of things. Would Fiddleford hate him? Would he just slam the door in his face? He felt like maybe he would deserve it if his partner did outright reject him, if he could even call him a partner now.

 

Stanford was pulled from his dreary thoughts as he noticed that he had arrived near the vicinity of the town’s center. He parked his car, scraped and scratched from many a getaway from the irritated creatures of the woods, on an empty alleyway side. He leaned on his arm and gazed out the side window, watching as the speed of the snowfall got gradually heavier. The current atmosphere of the peculiar town draped in a white and looming fog added yet another melancholy, nervous vibe to the situation. Ford weighed his options carefully. He knew of only one other place that Fiddleford might’ve gone to be alone, a small, garage-like space that they had purchased for the purpose of storing extra parts and machines before the construction of the bunker. He laughed in a skakey, broken way. He was kidding himself. Why was he even going to attempt to reconnect with him? Why not just go home and forget this ever happened?

_ Forget. _ The word reminded Ford of the memory gun that Fiddleford had constructed after that encounter with the gremloblin. This thought only made him more worried. That gun surely had side-effects. He wanted to believe that his friend had destroyed it when he brought up the potential harm it could cause, but he also knew that it was probably never gotten rid of.

Ford stepped out of the car into the frosty cold haze of January gently fading into February. A needle-sharp wind blew against the area, ruffling his hair and prompting Ford to pull his coat closer. He quickly treaded forward alone on the sidewalk leading to the downtown streets of Gravity Falls. He kicked a rock as he walked along the empty streets. The snow pelted sideways and gathered in layers on the icy ground. He was almost thankful that most of the town’s people had gone to some festival at the frozen lake as it allowed for him to be alone.

Ford’s mind wandered to other topics, (ones that he’d rather ignore altogether) like his supposedly traitorous twin. He wondered about where  _ he _ might’ve gone. Instead of wondering any more, he decided that he didn’t care. He did care, but didn’t want to believe that he did. Not right now at least. He tried his hardest not to think about what the near future has in store and just let things happen as they happen. 

 

Stanford soon arrived at the modest building that Fiddleford was presumably staying in. Its windowless white door was way more intimidating than it should have been. Before he gathered as much courage as he could possibly muster to simply knock on the door, he took a deep breath in and hoped for the best even though there was not much hope left in him.

Ford knocked on the door twice before it was answered. Fiddleford stood there with messy hair and a somewhat taken aback look on his face, like he never expected to see Stanford again. He definitely didn’t expect to have him show up at his door.

Ford flinched and tried to ignore Fiddleford’s disheveled appearance. This worried him as normally he was the one to be unorganized and messy. He stared at his feet, occasionally glancing up at his friend. He hoped that he wasn’t visibly shaking too much.

Fiddleford wasn’t sure how to feel about seeing Ford. Looking at him in front of him brought up many feelings and memories he had been trying to pretend didn’t mean anything anymore. He knew he missed Ford but had tried to convince himself that he didn’t need him. He was still quite angry about everything terrible that had happened in recent times during his stay in Gravity Falls. He was still also debating on whether or not he should try forgetting some of what he had seen.

For a time neither of them said a word, as if afraid to break some invisible line of heavy silence. Then Stanford decided to take a chance and quietly started, “I-”

Before he was abruptly cut off, “What are you doing here?” Fiddleford’s tone was neither happy nor angry like Ford had expected, leaning more to devoid of emotion. “Thought you said that ya never wanted to see me again, that you didn’t need me.” He wanted to say more, but that was all that he managed to put into words.

Hearing his words made something snap within Ford, before he hadn’t known what to say but now all of his thoughts came tumbling out of his mouth at once. “I-I didn’t mean it. I never wanted to hurt you. I didn’t tell you about Bill because I wanted to protect you and I didn’t want you to think badly of me. I see that that was wrong of me, I should’ve told you. I had no right to keep something like a demon of all things from you. And I’m sure that I’ve learned my lesson now that I’ve just gotten back from almost being thrown through that awful portal.” Fiddleford’s eyes widened slightly at his mention of nearly being thrown through the portal. “I see the error of my ways. I just wanted to see you again. It’s just..  _ oh I’m so sorry, Fiddleford! _ I never want to hurt you again. I-I love you even though you probably don’t want to hear that from me anymore. And I wouldn’t at all be surprised if you hate me, a-and never want to see my face again. I’m just.. I’m sorry..”

Ford had started to tear up as he stuttered through those last few sentences. He started to turn away as a tear dripped down his face, sure that his best friend hated him. However, this was proven to be far from the truth as Fiddleford reached out and hugged him before he could walk away.

Fiddleford was indeed upset with Ford, but that didn’t change how he felt about him. He was still his compassionate partner that he had met and shared a dorm with for four years of college. He was still the same person that he had explored an alien ship of all things with. They had been through so much together that he decided that it wasn’t worth it to turn him away and forget it all. He was still Stanford, even if he had made many a misguided bad decision.

Fiddleford sighed and smiled softly. “Stanford.. I could never hate you. You may’ve messed up, and pretty badly might I add, but I could never hate you. But I absolutely hate seeing you cry. And as much as some part of me wants to still be mad at ya, I can’t. Truthfully, I missed you.” He then let Ford go and wiped a stray tear off of his friend’s apparently stunned face and brushed the snowflakes out of his hair.

Ford couldn’t believe this.  Was he dreaming? How was it possible that Fiddleford forgave him so easily after everything that had happened? “But, but..” he stuttered in disbelief and shock.

Fiddleford took Stanford’s hand and gently said, “No, no. Come on, let’s go home. I want to hear all about what happened.”

**Author's Note:**

> "Just give me a reason, just a little bit's enough. Just a second we're not broken, just bent. And we can learn to love again." - "Just Give Me A Reason" - P!nk


End file.
